Towards a new Cold War

The rapid changes and escalated tension in the Syrian civil war have been occupying international agenda for a very long time. Indeed, it has become a crucial issue for global security with its convoluted social, economic, humanitarian, military, and geostrategic aspects. The complexity of the situation was once again reflected at the last week's Munich Security Conference (MSC), a major global forum that brings political leaders and key security experts together annually, held on Feb. 12-14, 2016. Syria was understandably the main topic of the discussion; but, more importantly, in the back of the attendees' minds was the future of the global order and stability.

Speeches of important political figures at such prestigious gatherings provide an opportunity to experts to glimpse into leaders' thinking about current issues of the day. As such, Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech at the 2007 MSC has become legendary in its audacity. In a rather fiery speech, President Putin warned his audience very dramatically against the United States' global supremacy, declared the eastward expansion of NATO a provocation and threatened that Russia had weapons that could neutralize the anti-missile defense shield planned to be installed then by the U.S. and NATO in Eastern Europe.

Not many people at the time recognized this as a declaration of a dawn of a new era in Russia-West relations. But not many today doubt the seriousness of Russian Prime Minister Dimtry Medvedev's description during his speech at this year's MSC of the strained relationship between Russia and the West as a "new Cold War," mostly due to former's actions in Syria and Ukraine.

Russia and the West have been at odds since the former started using strong-arm tactics to further its...